School food standards
Annual update on actions in The Plan
The Action:
Introduce food-based standards for all schools
What’s worked well:
New school food standards, designed to make it easier for school cooks to create imaginative, flexible and nutritious menus, came into force in January 2015. The Standards ‘tea towel’ and accompanying Guidance have proved very popular with cooks, caterers and their schools.
Snippets of success:
School Food Standards Pledge
As at November 2015, over 1,400 academy schools currently exempt from following the standards have voluntarily signed up, showing their commitment to ensuring their pupils eat a healthy, balanced and varied diet. Academies can sign up at www.schoolfoodplan.com/school-food-standards.
‘What Works Well’ Recipe Hub
The Recipe Hub (which was generously funded by Public Health England) brings together over 100 recipes for pupils’ favourite meals and snacks, all checked against the School Food Standards. These tried and tested recipes have been created by school cooks and caterers and cover food served across the whole day: breakfast clubs, mid-morning break, lunch and after-school clubs.
“We are delighted with the positive response to the recipe hub, which shows exciting ways to meet the school food standards whilst also meeting the required nutrition criteria of the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF).”
Dr Louis Levy, Head of Nutrition Science at Public Health England